There are no affordable housing roadblocks in Chilmark, town
officials declared this week.

"I think our decision not to push for an April meeting is not
a roadblock, but an intelligent decision," selectman Warren Doty
said Wednesday at a public hearing on the Middle Line Road housing
project. "I think what we found here is that we need to proceed
carefully. The devil is in the details, and we need to get it right so
it doesn't fly apart on town meeting floor."

The $3.5 million Middle Line Road project is the first affordable
housing development commissioned by the town. It is slated for a 21-acre
parcel of town-owned land off Middle Line Road, a dirt road off Tabor
House Road adjacent to the landfill.

Three separate designs for the 12-unit development have been
proposed by the consultant South Mountain Company, the most recent at a
meeting two weeks ago. But with the latest revision came more questions,
and the Chilmark selectmen ultimately delayed putting the project to a
vote at annual town meeting.

On Wednesday, the selectmen pledged to schedule a special town
meeting on the project later this spring. Some Chilmark residents urged
selectmen to move forward expeditiously.

"We've been focused for four years on Middle Line, and I
think it's now finally on the table," Abel's Hill
resident Edward (Tip) Kenyon said. "I'm sorry this
isn't coming up in the April town meeting, and I don't want
it put off for too long. I beg you - there are people waiting.
This has been on the back burner for a long time. Let's keep it on
the front burner."

Housing committee members said they are ready to take their plan to
town meeting and are simply waiting for selectmen and other town boards
to give the okay.

They also said that they have no problem with a special town meeting
in May or June, and committee member Josh Scott said he felt the
complexity and importance of the project warranted a special meeting
separate from the annual town meeting on April 25.

Debate also ranged over the project design, which calls for a mix of
six rental units and six set aside for home ownership. The tension was
palpable between housing committee members - who advocate an even
mix of rental and home ownership units - and selectman J.B. Riggs
Parker, who has long pushed for all rental units.

Mr. Parker maintains that the town should keep all 12 units as
rentals so they can be used as affordable housing in perpetuity. He told
committee members that given their position, they should be prepared to
answer how they will meet the ongoing need for affordable housing beyond
Middle Line.

"There we need the cooperation of the selectmen on Peaked
Hill, and we can't really say that much without that,"
committee member Zelda (Zee) Gamson responded, referring to the unused
15 acres of town-owned land called Peaked Hill Pastures. "We can
make proposals, but they're nothing more than that without the
selectmen's cooperation and understanding."

Housing committee members then defended their preference for
homesite units. Not only did most residents want ownership
opportunities, they said, but homesite units also would have less
financial impact on the town than rental units, which require long-term
maintenance and management.

Mr. Doty also said he supported homesite lots in the Middle Line
project.

"It's in the tradition of the town that people own their
own homes and are proud of their homes," Mr. Doty said at the
public hearing. "It's not as if selling these will take them
away. They're still going to be affordable housing 10 years from
now, and 20 years from now."

Trying to move away from arguments over rentals versus ownership,
the housing committee refocused the hearing on project finances.

Town voters have already appropriated almost $300,000 for the
project, and South Mountain Company consultant John Abrams has said the
rest could be secured without asking the town for any money beyond the
Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds.

Mr. Abrams estimates rentals and sales would cover $2.1 million of
the $3.5 million project cost, with the remaining $1.1 million gap
bridged through a state affordable housing trust and CPA funds. The
Chilmark CPA oversight committee has allocated 75 per cent of its funds
for affordable housing. The money has been accumulating since 2002.

On Wednesday residents expressed doubts about the preliminary budget
that predicted no funding shortfall. But Mr. Abrams assured them that if
the project did need more money, additional funding could be secured
through the CPA committee or private donations.

"There seems to be an assumption that this project will go
over budget, and that's probably a good assumption," Mr.
Abrams said. "But lots of Chilmark summer residents come in and
ask if they can donate to a Chilmark project. There would be no problem
in raising several hundred thousand dollars to augment any additional
costs."